The Way: How to Get Oregon's Story Back on Track

This week in The Way: Hester on the Urban/Rural divide, Novick on 'Climate Chaos', Helt explains BOLI, and "the beerchaser's" final recommendations.

"Sun through Trees" by BLM Oregon & Washington is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Despite being a mere 22 years old, I remember when my home was a very different place than it is now. It’s something I’m sad to say many of my peers did not get to experience, but thanks to a robust (if somewhat strange) pre-pubescent political acumen and cultural awareness, I grew up under what I’ve come to call “the Grand Myth of Oregon”.

Oregon in my eyes, and I think in the eyes of many others, was almost a fairy tale—a place synonymous with beauty, ruggedness, utility, and practicality. Its people were friendly, polite, and welcoming to a nearly comical degree. Its storied leaders—Terry Shrunk, Mark O’Hatfield, Vera Katz, and Bud Clark—were level-headed eccentrics who were able to think big: a rare combination of traits we seemed to had been blessed with time after time again.

My native Portland was hip, artistic, and a little slice of Europe in America. Even its ‘grungy’ parts were so in a quirky way.

Our values of sustainability, ecology, and hearty civic-cooperation combined with our forward-thinking nature to make us internationally admired.

Much of that has seemed to slip away.

Today, the state is being ravaged by a homelessness crisis; addiction is visible in very one of the region’s communities; people are afraid to ride transit and feel unsafe in even the most vibrant of urban centers; and we’ve become mean. Cruelty runs rampant, not just on anonymous chat forums, but out in the open… in everyday life.

It’s now commonplace for frustrations about Oregon’s ills to boil over to the point that simple daily interactions are rife with hate and vitriol, whether it be in the grocery store about masks, in town hall meetings about homelessness, or on the street at a protest.

If Oregon were a fairy tale, we’re living in the epic conflict, and its past time for the hero to enter victorious with the solution.

I think Oregon can still be that mythical place. But it won’t be one hero that saves this story: the fix will have to come from all of us, working together, understanding each other, and listening.

As cliche as it sounds, what I hear over and over from frustrated fellow Oregonians, regardless of political affiliation, is that they don’t feel listened to—by their leaders, by the media, or by their neighbors. The solution to many, it would seem, has been simply to shout louder and louder. As far as I can tell, that’s just made it harder to hear anything.

We will only be able craft the next chapter of our collective story by sharing our individual ones, genuinely listening to others’, and learning from them. That’s the Oregon way.

And much like our state’s diverse terrain, our varied perspectives are our strength.

So listen up, Oregon. It’s time to time begin writing. Start at the ballot box, and remember to vote in Tuesday the 17th’s primary election.

Here’s to a better Oregon,

Xavier

---

To read:

• Mark Hester tackles the urban/rural divide with the wild idea: what if both sides are right?

  • Read more here.

• Steve Novick, Former Portland City Commissioner, faces an existential crisis in this week’s most controversial question: does anyone actually care about the climate?

  • Read more here.

• Cheri Helt, Candidate for Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner, discusses how the job is the most important elected-office you’ve probably never heard of.

  • Read more here.

• Don Williams provides a GOP candidate his recommended watering holes to chat with fellow Oregonians in The Beerchaser’s Best Bars for Bridget Barton

  • Read more here.

---

To interpret:

From Jenn Schuberth and John Urang.

---

To look forward to:

• Mark Hester and Gary Conkling will be standing by with post-election thoughts and analysis.

• Marie Bowers and Chris Harder add their thoughts on the urban/rural divide.

• Jesse Burke, owner of the Society Hotel, weighs in on the dysfunction in the Rose City.

• State Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward writes about the future of health care and health systems in Oregon.

• Our #GovernorGoals series. Learn more about how you can help shape the future of our state here.

---

To do:

• Read the latest version of the Liftoff

• Share The Oregon Way with three friends

• Join our editorial team or nominate someone to join

• Tell us how we can improve!